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KOHALA COAST, Hawaiʻi - Rogers spoke to a ballroom full of elected leaders during the Western Governors Association 2018 Winter Meeting at the Fairmont Orchid on Wednesday.

(BIVN) – Henk Rogers, the Dutch-born entrepreneur who founded the Blue Planet Foundation (and who brought the Tetris video game to the U.S. in the ‘80s) pressed governors from around the western United States to adopt aggressive renewable energy mandates in their states.

“This is not business as usual,” Rogers said of climate change during the Western Governors’ Association 2018 Winter Meeting. “We’re in a situation where Governors, leaders, need to give orders and not take orders. Mandate 100% renewable energy by 2045 in your state and we will get there.”

Rogers lives on an off-grid ranch in the Puʻu Waʻawaʻa area of the Big Island. He joined forces with Hawaiʻi Governor David Ige, the chair of the WGA, to help enact a 100% renewable energy mandate in Hawaiʻi. Rogers said they had to push back on resistance from the Hawaiʻi Electric Company.

“The electric company is the biggest company in Hawaii. They said that we couldn’t (generate all power through renewables) because it was too complicated,” Rogers said. “The electric company now says we can do this by 2040 and save ratepayers $7 billion.”